TOP STORY:   Students from Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School on Kaua‘i introduce us to an unconventional food source in the U.S. – crickets! Kaua‘i farmer Lourdes Torres recalls first hearing about the idea of insects as food from her grandmother. “She would point at them and say, ‘That’s food.

Over the summer, twelve outstanding HIKI NŌ graduates from the class of 2018 gathered at PBS Hawai‘i to discuss their HIKI NŌ experiences and how they feel the skills they learned from HIKI NŌ will help them in college, the workplace and life.

This special compilation show features some of the top stories from the Fall Semester of the 2017/2018 school year. In all of the selected stories, HIKI NŌ students explore the truth about the people they are featuring.

TOP STORY Students from Wai‘anae High School in West O‘ahu tell the story of Matthew Reyes Jr., an enterprising young pig farmer who helps his parent run Reyes’ Hog Farm in Ma‘ili. Matthew is so dedicated to his family’s business that he sacrifices any semblance of a social life.

TOP STORY Students from Kaua‘i High School in Lihue present a personal essay called “The Bigger Picture.” It bemoans how smartphones and other personal electronic devises get in the way of our enjoyment of the natural world around us.

On Friday January 26, 2018, student teams from twenty middle and high schools took on the 2018 HIKI NŌ Winter Challenge. The students had four days to conceptualize, shoot, write, record voiceovers for, and edit a story expressing the theme “A Special Place.

TOP STORY Students from Konawaena High School on Hawai‘i Island tell the personal and inspirational story of one of their teachers. Emma Erwin hiked all 2,650 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail – from Mexico to Canada – as part of her recovery from the trauma of sexual assault.

This episode is an encore presentation of a HIKI NŌ special that first aired in the summer of 2017– HIKI NŌ Focus On Compassion: Self-Identity –hosted and co-written by HIKI NŌ alumna and Wai‘anae High School graduate Crystal Cebedo.

The third of four Focus on Compassion HIKI NŌ episodes compiles archived stories that center on the theme of compassion for self-identity. This four-episode series is hosted by Crystal Cebedo, a 2016 HIKI NŌ and Wai‘anae High School graduate who is currently attending Menlo College in Atherton, California.

TOP STORY:   Students from Kapolei High School on O‘ahu present a story on the Hawai‘i-themed artwork engraved on the columns of O‘ahu’s rail project. The column art was designed by local architect Daniel Kanekuni and, according to HART spokesperson Bill Brennan, adds a sense of place and local identity to the rail project.